Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Owning a 'starter home' can suck at times

Working in the backyard this afternoon on the veggie garden, I had a roofer call down to me from the neighbors house. Says "Hey, you know I can see in your attic?" What?! He came over after he was done and found several missing ridge shingles and the sheathing on one side not nailed along that ridge . The winter storm with high winds evidently started to peal it back, but no leaks . Then found none of the vent boxes sealed, a missing shingle that also had no nails, and a 'zipper' had formed on the prevailing wind side, but the insurance companies only replace half your roof for that unless you get one on the other side. A little background is the home is 6.5 years old and I was not able to be out as much as I would have liked during construction since that was the time my wife became paralyzed. Anybody else have issues with current building practices?

Jeff,

As far as a starter home been there done that. Just be glad your home is not a log home. Lots of maintenance!

Oh yeah. Too many to list them all. My parents had the contractor that built the house that they purchased do a remodel. A stub wall (floor to ceiling) is 3/4" out of vertical and "current builing practices" allow for that much out of square. There were many other horror stories. I felt like I had to be the general and the contractor was a sub. They had to withold the last 2 progress payments until he fixed the problems or they wouldn't have been fixed. As it was, the "3 month remodel" took 7 months.

Then there was the concrete contractor....... It goes on and on.

This leaves me feeling real warm and fuzzy. I start building my retirement home in 4 - 8 weeks (depends on weather). Having a contractor put up the weather tight shell (shingles and siding on) and I am doing the rest. I did this once before on a vacation home and the only incident there was a basement wall colapse. Hoping this one goes smoother.

Here in PA, they've passed a glorious law that all new homes being built will contain sprinkler systems in the house as of 1/1/11.

From what I hear, Cali. is the only other state that requires this. Great. We want to be just like California.

Anyone see the old movie, The Money Pit? My favorite part was when the plumber showed up in a new Corvette. He took a healthy deposit on work to be done "someday" and then drove off.

Everyone I know has had problems with contractors, and it is a long list

The only contractor I will be hiring is to set the roof trusses. Everything else will be done by myself, family and friends. A lot of work building a house, but the roof trusses are the worst part. It will of course take longer, but we have two years to complete once permits are issued.

If I ever have to build a house or outbuilding, there is an Amish Contractor that will travel about 40 miles from home to work. They are VERY good at what they do. Once they start a job, they don't pull off and work at another job site until the job is done. The only 2 things that they don't do is carpeting and electrical. Two people that I know have had them do work and both would hire them again - 0 problems, everything was done on time and with attention to detail. The only bad thing is that they are booked at least a year in advance so you have to plan ahead.

When my sister was building their house, they looked for an Amish contractor, but could not find any. There are furniture/cabinet makers and a guy with a portable saw mill. He is coming out this year to slab up a bunch of pine. I also have some nice and straight red and white oak I want to get cut up.

There is one Amish outfit that builds mini barns, gazebos and small structures. My dad bought a 10 x 10 mini barn from them and it was built very well. Free delivery and setup also. Less than half the price of one from Lowes, and superior quality.

I'll check around to see if any came to be. My sister built their house 12 years ago.

Just a little research will help a ton, call reference. Many people hire contractors just based on the lowest price, you get what you pay for. I have been a contractor for many years & have seen some poor craftsmanship on many many homes over the years. I also see worse cases from the do-it youselfers!